1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses, image processing methods, hand shake blur area estimation devices, hand shake blur area estimation methods, and programs, and more particularly, to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, a hand shake blur area estimation device, a hand shake blur area estimation method, and a program that are suitably used, for example, in a case where hand shake blur occurring at the time of capturing an image is estimated and corrected.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been proposed various hand shake blur correction methods, such as a method for correcting hand shake blur on the basis of the motion of a video camera detected by an angular velocity sensor, a gyro-sensor, or the like provided in the video camera and a method for calculating a correction amount by which hand shake blur is to be corrected, on the basis of a motion vector detected from captured images captured by a video camera, and correcting the hand shake blur on the basis of the calculated correction amount.
That is, for example, in hand shake blur correction methods of the related art, in a case where a specific motion amount representing the motion of a video camera is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that a picture composition changing operation, such as panning or tilting, has been intentionally performed by a photographer. Thus, image blur in a captured image caused by the picture composition changing operation is not corrected or the degree to which the image blur is corrected is reduced.
Meanwhile, in a case where the amount of motion of the video camera is smaller than the predetermined threshold, it is determined that the video camera has vibrated because of hand shake of the photographer. Thus, blur in a captured image caused by hand shake of the photographer is corrected.
A method for detecting a specific motion amount representing the motion of a video camera on the basis of angular velocity acquired by an angular velocity sensor and determining that panning or tilting has been performed in a case where the amount of motion is kept equal to or greater than a threshold during a predetermined period of time is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-183951.
In addition, a method for setting a convergent mode where the amount of correction is reduced as much as possible as in the case of panning or tilting, when motion vector data does not exceed a predetermined threshold during a predetermined period of time corresponding to thirty fields, is described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-331430.